Bucks County hospitals are critical partners in BCHIP’s goal to create a community in which all our citizens experience the highest quality healthcare services. Hospitals play an important part in most of our initiatives and programs and they work with BCHIP to continually develop a coordinated approach to address challenges and fill in gaps in healthcare services.
BCARES (Bucks County Connect. Assess. Refer. Engage. Support), is a warm handoff collaboration with the six Bucks County hospitals and an assigned Certified Recovery Specialist (CRS) to serve individuals who have survived an opioid overdose. The hospitals coordinate with the CRS and other service organizations to provide survivors and their families with recovery support, education, resources, and a direct connection from the emergency department to treatment.
Our Long Term Care Partnership is working in collaboration with hospitals, long-term care facilities, rehab centers, home care and hospice agencies, and other organizations that serve elderly and disabled people to ensure that every resident of Bucks County, regardless of age or physical condition, receives the care he or she deserves in order to live a full and happy life.
The Bucks County Immunization Coalition promotes vaccine awareness and collaborates with hospitals to encourage patients who are not fully vaccinated to receive the vaccines that will provide the most protection.
Our Quit Smoking Program regularly holds meetings at local hospitals for our in-person meeting option.
Hospitals are important partners in a number of our other initiatives, either by providing services or sharing in the brainstorming and collaboration to develop goals and to build partner networks to achieve these goals. Some of these initiatives include:
- BCHIP Wellness Partnership – provides health education, promotion, and screening activities
- Building Community Partners – bridges healthcare case managers with community partner agencies to improve coordination of patient care upon discharge
- PA-Navigate (FindHelp) Committee – develops best practices to improve coordination of care across health systems and agencies
- Advance Care Planning Task Force – provides an opportunity of collaboration between hospitals and community representatives to promote understanding of and preparation for advanced care and sharing of medical records among a patient’s medical providers
- Violence in Healthcare Task Force – develops best practices and identifies resources to prevent violence in the healthcare setting and supports those who have experienced acts of violence
BCHIP partner organizations not only recognize our current needs for our existing population but are actively engaged in developing long-term plans for our future population. Projections for Bucks County indicate that the median age will continue to increase, indicating an aging population, which creates a sense of urgency around healthcare initiatives, especially long-term care initiatives and coordination of medical services. Our Bucks County hospitals are powerful allies in our work:
